At a glance…
- The 2026 AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award National Gala Dinner and Announcement took place on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, at Parliament House in Canberra.
- It has been running annually since its inception in 2014. The award is open to Australian women who are driving positive change, innovation, and leadership in rural, regional, and remote communities.
- The Weekly’s Samantha Trenoweth attended the awards in 2026. Read on for her story.
- Content warning: This article touches on the topic of suicide, which may be triggering for some readers. Help is available.
The Great Hall in Federal Parliament House is a sea of satin. The room hums with warm, earnest, life-changing conversations. Each year, on a cold Tuesday in September, country women swap their denim and work boots for evening gowns and up-dos, and gather in Canberra for the Agrifutures Rural Women’s Awards.
Once again, this year, The Weekly has a front-row seat.
Carol Mudford, last year’s national winner and the event’s MC, tells a story that explains just how deeply these awards touch lives in rural Australia.
A nurse, shearer and founder of the mental health initiative, sHedway, she speaks about a man, troubled by thoughts of suicide, who reached out to her. He had learned about her work through the awards. And after they chatted, he went on to seek mental healthcare for the first time in his life.
That is just a snapshot of the impact Carol’s work has had since her Agrifutures win. The Westpac bursary she received and the boost to her profile – including a feature in The Weekly – have exponentially increased sHedway’s reach. So there have been many more conversations begun, and lives touched and potentially saved.
And the winner is…
Carol goes on to congratulate the 2026 winner, Narelle Zanker, a bright-eyed teacher and dairy farmer from South Australia who has introduced an education initiative to her family farm.
“People are disconnected,” Narelle says. “They think that milk comes from the shop. It’s about reconnecting people with the land and giving them that hands-on experience.”
Her next goal, working in conjunction with Dairy Australia, is to expand the program nationally. From her virtual classroom in the family’s milking shed, she will present lessons to school children on animal care, agriculture and food safety.
The 2026 Rural Women’s Award runner-up is electrician, pilot and outback stockwoman, Kelly Shotton. She is developing more effective ways to use technology on farms. Her app, Stationly, is set to revolutionise water management. After all, Kelly explains, “there’s no station without water”.
Meet this year’s finalists
This night of nights for rural women is not, however, simply about these winners. Each of the finalists has won a tight state competition to be here, and each has an inspiring story to tell.
Kristie Ivone
Kristie Ivone is building bridges in her hometown of Albury, NSW. She has developed a program through which local migrants and refugees teach their first languages in community classes. Kristie’s Boas Language Academy has changed the lives of 13 migrant teachers and more than 80 students in its first year.
“Learning language is challenging,” she says. “It really makes your brain work hard. And that makes people come alive. It connects people.”
Angie Nisbet
Born and bred in outback Queensland, Angie Nisbet realised just how serious sun safety is for people in the bush when her sister, Shona, was diagnosed with a stage two melanoma. Then, later, a close friend died from skin cancer. “I miss her every day,” Angie says.
Wanting to make a difference, she founded FarmHer Hands. And with her sister, she designed UPF50+ sun-protection gloves for work on the land. She is also campaigning to make virtual skin checks more accessible to people in the bush.
Becky Dickinson
Becky Dickinson is a mixed animal vet from regional Victoria. She designed her Veterinary Support Services initiative to keep young graduate vets in the bush. She provides structured post-grad support (including mentoring, training and professional networking pathways) to early-career rural vets.
Amy Vickers
Tassie woman Amy Vickers spent 26 years in the military. When she was discharged in 2022, she realised, like so many who have gone before, that the transition to civilian life can be tough.
Amy established Well Beyond Service to ease that process for other veterans and emergency service personnel with a program that involves the healing power of nature, animals, art and community.
Angela Teale
Born in America and now living in regional Western Australia, Angela Teale is an aerospace engineer who is building world-class space tracking infrastructure in outback WA. And training locals to join the space race with her.
It’s time to enter
Each year, these awards showcase inspiring women, but the 2026 finalists are a phenomenally diverse, talented, big-hearted cohort. As Carol says in her closing address: Rural Australia produces women of “true heart and grit”. And the journey doesn’t end here.
Applications for the 2027 AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award open on Wednesday, 9 September 2026. Apply here.
